1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of freezing meat such as beef, fish, poultry or pork in a marinade so that marination does not occur until the meat thaws and is allowed to stand in the marinade.
2. Description of the Related Art
The process of marinating fresh meat involves several variables which include but are not limited to the type of meat, the type of marinade, the thickness of the cut, and time. The meat must not be exposed to highly acid sauces such as those including vinegar or lemon juice for too long, or the marinade will dissolve the meat. While a high degree of exposure may be desirable when making a sauerbraten from a tough cut of beef, for example, it is not so desirable when marinating a delicate filet of fish. It is therefore important that the chef knows precisely when the marination begins, so that he will not over-marinate the meat. The marination becomes more problematic when using frozen meat, because the process of freezing and thawing can cause rupture of cells, which permits the marinade to intermingle with the purge, i.e. the natural fluid released from ruptured cells of a previously frozen animal tissue when defrosted. This not only causes a deterioration in taste and texture but renders it difficult for a chef to gage the proper marination time as compared to the time for marinating fresh meat. Freezing the meat in the marinade further complicates the marination process, because the marinade can penetrate the tissue prior to freezing as well as during thawing and afterward.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,578 discloses a method for packaging seafood wherein pieces of seafood such as shrimp or fish filets are marinated or coated in a sauce, placed on a pallet, vacuum sealed in a bag, and flash frozen by blast freezing, contact freezing, or tunnel freezing. The product is intended to be heated from the frozen state to the cooked state exclusively by microwaving in the vacuum sealed bag. The specification states that some of the sauce is sucked into the seafood during the vacuum sealing process, and is further forced into the seafood as steaming takes place during the step of microwaving. This is apparently in addition to any marination which may occur prior to the sealing and cooking steps. There is no suggestion of cooking other than microwaving, and likewise no suggestion of allowing the product to marinate in a thawed state for any predetermined time.
Contact freezing can be done using liquid nitrogen, but this is expensive. Contact freezing can also be done using a brine which is kept at a temperature well below the freezing point of water and therefore sufficient to thoroughly freeze the marinated product. However the heat transfer rate with conventional brines is not sufficiently high to prevent the formation of large ice crystals as the product is cooled through the critical range from about 31° F. to 23° F., and therefore results in rupture of cells in the animal tissue when it is defrosted. This in turn causes purge to be released from the ruptured cells as described above. Since this purge will mingle with any marinade with which the meat has been frozen, it is nearly impossible to gage a proper marination time whether microwaving or a conventional method of cooking is contemplated. With both loss of texture and improper marination time, there is little likelihood that the cooked meat product will taste like fresh meat which has been properly marinated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,217 to Nagoshi discloses a Process for Quick-Freezing of Meat including beef, poultry, pork and the like. The method includes the steps of preparing a brine containing rapeseed oil, propylene glycol, calcium chloride, and water; cooling the brine; and immersing the meat in the cooled brine until it is frozen. Such a brine has heat transfer properties which cause it to pass through the zone of maximum ice crystal formation very rapidly, thereby preventing or reducing the breakdown of muscle tissue in the seafood due to ice crystal formation. The specification states that not only the freezing rate but also the thawing rate are increased when the meat is frozen according to the disclosed process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,909 to Nagoshi discloses a Method of Freezing Fishery Products which is similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,217, but relates to seafood.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,768 to Nagoshi discloses a Freezing Method for Perishable Foods which includes placing a perishable food in a heat conducting container and causing the opposite surface of the container to contact a cooled brine or a liquefied gas. Accordingly, the perishable food is frozen quickly without direct immersion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,963 to Sakai relates to a Method of Freezing Foods which is similar to the latter Nagoshi method except that a layer of brine is placed in the heat conducting container along with the perishable food.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,840,035, 4,840,034 and 5,001,047 to Liberman relate to methods of freezing sensitive body fluids, tissue samples and organs, respectively. The freezing methods described in these patents are similar to the Nagoshi method except that the freezing objects in Liberman patents are sensitive body parts for clinical use.
There is no teaching or suggestion in any of these patents that the disclosed processes can be used to package a meat product in a marinade so that the product may be frozen without cell damage resulting in purge which would dilute the marinade. Likewise there is no suggestion that a meat product can be packaged in a marinade and frozen so that the marination time will not differ substantially from the marination time for a product which has never been frozen.